Oxygen vacancies synergistic cobalt phosphide electron bridge modulated bismuth oxychloride/carbon nitride Z-scheme junction for efficient carbon dioxide reduction coupled with tetracycline oxidation.

Although great progress has been made with respect to electron bridges, the electron mobility of the state-of-the-art electron bridges is far from satisfactory because of weak electrical conductivity. To overcome the above issue, cobalt phosphide (CoP), as a model electron bridge, was modified by superficial oxygen vacancies (OVs) and embedded into a defective bismuth oxychloride/carbon nitride (BiOCl/g-CN) Z-scheme heterojunction to obtain atomic-level insights into the effect of surface OVs on CoP electron bridges. Compared to BiOCl/g-CN and bismuth oxychloride/cobalt phosphide/carbon nitride (BiOCl/CoP/g-CN) composites, the defective bismuth oxychloride/cobalt phosphide/carbon nitride (BiOCl/CoP/g-CN) heterojunction exhibited remarkable photocatalytic redox performance, indicating that the surface OVs-assisted CoP electron bridge effectively boosted electrical conductivity and yielded ultrafast electron transfer rates. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the surface OVs play a critical role in improving the electrical conductivity of the CoP electron bridge, thereby accelerating electron mobility. This research provides insights into interfacial OVs-modified transition metal phosphide (TMP) electron bridges and their potential application in heterojunctions for energy crisis mitigation and environmental remediation.